Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!ns-mx!uunet!amgraf!rjmkc!srwic!sralston From: sralston@srwic.UUCP (Steve Ralston) Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386 Subject: Problem with multi-volume SCSI tape backups (using cpio/afio) Keywords: SCO ODT Archive 150 SCSI cpio afio backup Message-ID: <1991Jun16.075606.5446@srwic.UUCP> Date: 16 Jun 91 07:56:06 GMT Organization: SRS, Wichita, KS Lines: 39 Has anyone else had problems performing multi-volume cpio tape backups to an Archive 150 SCSI tape? Environment: 386/20 clone, 8 Mb (non-caching) Adaptec 1542A SCSI host adapter Archive 150 tape drive (2150S ?), using DC600A & DC6150 tapes SCO ODT 1.0 (System V, Release 3.2.1) Backup command: cd / find . -depth -print | cpio -ocB > /dev/rct0 Error Condition: At end-of-tape, backup process halts; no messages, no warnings, no prompt for next volume. Pressing the INTR key gets back the shell prompt but kills the backup-in-progress. I have also tried the above command using "afio -o -b 5k /dev/rct0" instead of the cpio command. The result was almost identical, except a message something like: afio: "/dev/rct0", Bad address is printed at end-of-tape, terminating afio and returning to the shell prompt. (Looks like afio is reporting system errno = EFAULT to me; errno=14 in ). I would rather be using cpio instead of afio, in case I ever need to recover from a hard crash and afio is not readily available, but cpio just ain't cuttin' it here. The afio man page says the -s option (volume size limit) is "Useful with finite-length devices which do not return short counts at end of media (sigh)." Yes, I can effectively use the "-s 120m" to limit afio archives to 120 Mb for DC600A carts, or "-s 150m" for DC6150A carts. Hell I even made mods to the afio sources so that I can mix both tapes at random. BTW: Thanks to Mark Brukhartz @ Lachman Associates for afio (if he is still there). Can anybody confirm or deny whether "short counts and end-of-media" could be the problem? Could this be a SCSI tape driver bug? Any other suggestions, including other backup methods would be welcome. Thanks for any info. -- Steve Ralston (sralston@srwic.UUCP || ..!uunet!ncrcom!ncrwic!srwic!sralston) 235 N Zelta, Wichita, KS 67206